Severe Storms Move Out From Central U.S.

MIRANDA LEITSINGER

Published
8:00 pm EDT, Sunday, May 11, 2003

Associated Press Writer

The unsettling conditions that produced severe storms from the Plains into the Ohio and Tennessee valleys have moved out, and the National Weather Service had no tornado or thunderstorm warnings posted for the nation on Monday.

More than 300 tornadoes have been reported since the start of May, and the twisters, floods and storm-related traffic accidents killed at least 46 people _ 18 in Missouri, 16 in Tennessee, seven in Kansas, two each in Illinois and Georgia, and one in West Virginia.

One of those tornadoes, which destroyed about 300 homes and 20 businesses Thursday along a 20-mile path through Oklahoma City and its suburbs, had wind speeds above 200 mph, ranking it as an F4 on the five-step Fujita scale, the National Weather Service said Monday. The twister injured 134 people. It struck roughly the same area as an F5 tornado with wind of 261 mph to 318 mph that killed 44 people on May 3, 1999.

Storms with wind speeds of up to 150 mph damaged homes in parts of central Kentucky early Sunday. In northeastern Kentucky, at least 17 people were treated at hospitals after a tornado damaged more than two dozen homes late Saturday near Maysville.

In central Tennessee, three tornadoes struck early Sunday, leveling homes and toppling trees and power lines. At least five people were taken to hospitals, but none of the injuries were life-threatening, authorities said.

Some 44,000 customers still had no electricity Monday morning in Michigan as a result of storms that tore up power lines late Saturday with wind gusting to 50 mph.

In central Ohio, about 8,600 customers remained without power Monday morning, down from 29,000 blacked out at the height of a wind storm that struck late Sunday, said Terri Flora, a spokeswoman for American Electric Power.

One twister late Saturday tore through South Pekin, Ill., 10 miles south of Peoria, destroying about 50 homes and causing extensive damage late Saturday, said Scott Gauvin, a spokesman for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. Twenty-seven people were treated at hospitals, three with serious injuries.

Several homes and other buildings were damaged by tornadoes elsewhere in Illinois, local emergency officials said. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich planned to declare 14 counties state disaster areas, allowing agencies to coordinate their efforts to repair damage and help victims and allowing them to draw money from special funds, his office said.

In Missouri, as many as 40 buildings were damaged in Canton, including a fraternity house at Culver-Stockton College, when a tornado touched down Saturday evening.

In Southeast Iowa, Larry Joe Starks saw a twister coming and knew he had to run. A tornado that looked to him as broad as several football fields was blasting toward his cousin's farmhouse.

Just before the twister struck, Starks, 19, and his friend Chris Derr, 15, jumped into a bathtub for protection. Starks' 18-year-old cousin, Nathan Starks, sought shelter in a closet under the stairway.

All three began the ride of their lives.

The tornado yanked the two-story home off its foundations near Argyle and slammed it into three large maple trees at least 25 feet away. The three teens emerged mostly unscathed _ walking out through where the kitchen wall used to stand.

"It pretty much picked it up and slammed it down like a basketball," said Larry Joe Starks. "I'm one of those guys that ain't really scared of much, but I was kind of scared."

Nathan was the only one injured _ but only with scratches. The three trees that stopped the house may have prevented worse injuries, said Fire Chief Allan Case.

"If it wasn't for that, we don't know what would have happened to them boys," Case said. "The trees saved the boys' lives."

That tornado late Saturday was part of a powerful weekend storm system that swept across the Midwest and parts of the South.